CultureFoundry helps Indigenous communities keep their languages alive, but their platform had some major roadblocks:
🔹 Students lost interest after a couple of months.
🔹 Teachers struggled to manage lessons and track progress.
🔹 The app was hard to update, making long-term improvements difficult.
I redesigned the platform to keep students engaged and make it easier for teachers to support them. My work included:
✅ Adding XP points, badges, and profiles to keep students motivated.
✅ Giving teachers better tools to track progress, edit lessons, and manage classes.
✅ Making the platform scalable so CultureFoundry could expand to more communities.
🚀 Now, more students stay engaged, teachers can work more efficiently, and the platform is set up to grow.
Problem
Saving Languages is Hard
CultureFoundry wanted to help Indigenous communities keep their languages alive by making learning fun. But they had some big problems:
The app was hard to update, making future changes a mess.
Users found it confusing and unpredictable to use.
Students got bored quickly and stopped learning.
They needed a design that was easy to maintain, fun to use, and worked well for everyone—students, teachers, and schools.
66%
Teachers reported their students got bored of the platform after using it for >2 months.
89%
Teachers found it hard to perform tasks like checking student reports, editing lesson content, and creating classes.
My Solution
Make learning more fun so students stay motivated
Learners can track their progress with an XP bar and engage in challenging versions of their learning activities which motivates them to out-compete themselves or their classmates.
Collect Badges
Learners can earn badges to mark their achievements on the platform and revel in their success, keeping them vested in the platform.
Make Profiles
Learners can now customize their profile by choosing their avatar and their clan further integrating themselves on the platform. Plus potentially leaving room for further online interactions.
Teachers can now…
Research
How I Did It
1️⃣ Talked to users (students, teachers, schools, and course creators) to understand their needs.
2️⃣ Sorted users into groups and designed different experiences for each.
💡Key Result: Sorting users into groups helped CultureFoundry make smarter business decisions and increase profits.
Learners
Students, mostly first nation as well as some not, ranged from age 6 to adult all with varying degree of experience with a first nation’s language.
Pain Points:
Learning a language is hard and boring cause you got to do it consistently.
It's hard to stay motivated.
Teachers
Mostly working in public K-12, these teachers come in short supply and most don’t have a fluent understanding of a first nation’s language.
Pain Points:
No access to indigenous curriculum.
Outnumbered and lack free time to research.
Org. Admins.
These folks administrate whole organizations like schools to ensure the relationship between teachers and students is running smoothly.
Pain Points:
Stretched thin with other priorities.
Often has no time to learn new software or applications.
Course Creators
Course creators make the curriculum and courses for the platform. These folks work with the operations team and address course feedback.
Pain Points:
Working on power point or other tools not meant for course creation.
A long and tedious workflow
My Impact
🚀 Students now stay motivated with XP points, badges, and profiles.
🚀 Teachers can easily track progress, edit lessons, and manage classes.
🚀 Schools can support teachers and students without extra hassle.
🚀 The platform is now scalable and ready to grow.
“Martin laid the ground work for CultureFoundry's upcoming scaling efforts. Thanks to him we can confidently reach out to more indigenous communities in Canada and the U.S.”
Chad Quinn
CEO
“Martin brought structure to a chaotic situation without letting any of the good ideas slip through the cracks. His work was precisely what CultureFoundry needed at the time he joined.”
Laura Goodyear
Design Lead
Looking back
My time at CultureFoundry was truly enriching. I got to contribute and practice my eye for design to a product that I believe to be doing a very needed good. I am particularly very grateful to members of the Anishinaabe as I feel I've gained an entirely new perspective through our 1-1 interviews.
This project strongly solidified my passion for using design to create transformative experiences that impact lives and empower communities.
